Walleye stocked in Lake Champlain

Walleye fishing in Lake Champlain has never been quite as good as it was in the 1960's.

"In the 60's we had the best walleye fishery in the world, I mean no question. We had the best walleye fishery in the world," said Lake Champlain Walleye Association president Robert Samson.

Anglers passionately pursued walleye.

"Oh it was exciting," said association board member Dominique Gagner. "Especially on the river in Swanton there, boat to boat, side by side, oh my, we had a lot of fun there."

But more than 30 years ago walleye started disappearing.

"I don't think we have a specific cause," said fisheries biologist Bernie Pientka.

Biologists think habitat loss and more silt in rivers might have something to do with it, as well as over-fishing at one point.

"Nobody wants to throw them back," said Samson.

Regulations were very loose decades ago, and spawning grounds were open to fishing.

When walleye started becoming scarce in the 1980's, a group of concerned fishermen got together and formed the Lake Champlain Walleye Association.

"We've taken out so much, and we figure now it's time to give back a little bit," said Gagner.

The association, and eventually the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife working with them, spent more than 20 years of trial and error trying to figure out the best way to raise and stock walleye.

"There wasn't a big textbook out there saying here's how to grow walleye. It was more of a learning, talking with other researchers and other biologists and other states," said Pientka.

It's paid off.

In late June tens of thousands of fingerlings were taken out of ponds where they had been reared, and stocked into Lake Champlain and some of its rivers.

It's not an easy process however. Before the fish ever make it to the ponds, they first have to be hatched. For Lake Champlain fish, that happens at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station in Grand Isle.

Raising walleye is not like raising trout or salmon.

"It's a lot harder, it's a lot harder," said hatchery supervisor Kevin Kelsey. "They're very fragile. I mean to look at them, if you were here when they hatch out they look like tiny little pieces of glass."

But in precisely the right conditions, those tiny creatures start growing. What happens next, is critical, and a Vermont Fish and Wildlife team just did something no other team has been able to do.

We'll show you part two of this story next Monday.

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